Incinerator type environmental control system

ABSTRACT

A relatively small and compact system for cleaning and purifying products of combustion resulting from incineration of waste materials including smoke and particles suspended therein as well as gases produced thereby wherein all of the products of combustion are forced from a first burning chamber into a balanced flow system including a second burning chamber having a burner flame completely enveloping the input thereto for incinerating the smoke, etc. to a substantially clean, hot exhaust gas. The extremely hot exhaust gases are fed into a temperature reduction labyrinth having several direction changes while maintaining the constant volumetric flow therethrough and finally through a scrubbing stage including a water bath, a series of water sprays and an output baffle while still maintaining the constant volumetric flow for completely removing any other products remaining in the exhaust gases thereby reducing air pollution to substantially a zero level.

United States Patent [191 Schwartz, ,1 r. et a1.

1 Jan. 22, 1974 .1 1 INCINERATOR TYPE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTEM 22Filed: Apr. 5, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 241,225

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 46,937, June 17,1970.

[52] U.S. C1. 110/8 A, 110/18 C [51] Int. Cl. F23g 5/12 [58] Field ofSearch. 110/8 R, 8 A, 8 C, 18 N, 18 C [5 6] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3,031,981 5/1962 Smauder 110/8 3,453,976 7/1969 Burden,Jr. et a1...... 1 10/18 3,495,555 2/1970 Boyd et a1 llO/8 3,043,2497/1962 Hebert et al.. 110/8 X 3,051,100 8/1962 Singleton 110/8 3,082,7143/1963. Close 110/8 3,176,634 4/1965 Martin 110/8 3,403,645 10/1968Flowers, Jr. 1. 110/8 X 3,489,109 l/l970 Flowers, Jr. llO/l8 3,665,8715/1972 Swartz, Jr. et a1. 110/8 Primary Examinerl(enneth W. SpragueAttorney, Agent, or FirmMcDougall, Hersh & Scott [5 7] ABSTRACT Arelatively small and compact system for cleaning and purifying productsof combustion resulting from incineration of waste materials includingsmoke and particles suspended therein as well as gases produced therebywherein all of the products of combustion are forced from a firstburning chamber into a balanced flow system including a second burningchamber having a burner flame completely enveloping the input theretofor incinerating the smoke, etc. to a substantially clean, hot exhaustgas.

The extremely hot exhaust gases are fed into a temperature reductionlabyrinth having several direction changes while maintaining theconstant volumetric flow therethrough and finally through a scrubbingstage including a water bath, a series of water sprays and an outputbaffle while still maintaining the constant volumetric flow forcompletely removing any other products remaining in the exhaust gasesthereby reducing air pollution to substantially a zero level.

7 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PAIENI Em Auzz 1914 3786.767 sum 1 or 2 WIII PATENTEDJAN 22 1914 SHEEI 2 BF 2 INCINERATOR' TYPE ENVIRONMENTALCONTROL SYSTEM This is a division of our copending application Ser. No.46,937, filed June 17, 1970, and entitled Incinerator Type EnvironmentalControl System. This application is addressed to the after burner whichmay be employed in combination with an incinerator.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This inventionrelates to incinerator apparatus for consuming all forms of combustiblerefuse, trash, and garbage or other organic rubble for either domesticor I commercial applications where it is necessary to eliminate thesmoke or gaseous oxidation products of the incinerator to a sightlessand odorless state before exit into the surrounding environment.

2. Description of the Prior Art The purification or cleaning of gaseousproducts of combustion to eliminate smoke and fly ash presents a seriousair pollution problem which is a hazard of national scope and isreceiving substantial attention not only from local and national healthauthorities but also from legislators. The problem, however, is not anew one since with the even increasing urban population, air pollutionthreatens the very lives of urban as well as suburban inhabitants.Combined with the problem of air pollution, is the disposal of wastematerials in large cities or congested areas. These waste materials mustbe disposed of and the ordinary method of disposal is by incineration.The following patents are noted as being typical examples ofincinerators which constitute the known prior art related to the subjectinvention:

U. S. Pat. No. 3,043,249, .I. W. Herbert et al.

U. S. Pat. No. 3,051,100, C. N. Singleton U. S. Pat. No. 3,082,714, S.Close U. S. Pat. No. 3,176,634, L. S. Martin U. S. Pat. No. 3,403,645,G. H. Flowers, .Ir.

U. S. Pat. No. 3,489,109, G. H. Glowers, Jr.

While the above cited prior art discloses a second burning zone or anafter burner which has for its purpose the incinerating of any gases orfly ash from the exhaust, these relatively small compact units which areparticularly adapted for residential use, feed directly into a chimneyor flue. While incinerators including gas scrubbing apparatus are alsowell known for ash removal and gas scrubbing,.they are generallyexclusively utilized in large complex systems since apparatus of thetype referenced above has not been adapted to utilize such apparatus norwas it believed to have been necessary.

SUMMARY The present invention is directed to an improved relativelysmall compact incinerator for both residential and commercial-use whicheffectively removes all of the combustible products of the exhaust gasesresulting I from incineration so that it ultimately discharges exhaustgases into the atmosphere which is smokeless, odorless and free of flyash. The system contemplated by the subject invention briefly comprisesa first burning chamber of relatively large volume wherein wasteproducts are incinerated. All of the products of combustion resultingfrom the incineration are forced into a second relatively smaller,elongated, cylindrical burning chamber located adjacent the firstburning chamber which includes means for providing a flame axiallytherethrough such that all of the products of combustion must passthrough the flame in the second burner.

- A mixing nozzle is afflxed to the output end of the sec- 0nd burningchamber for providing a vortex or swirling output of exhaust gasestherefrom which are then fed through a balanced flow temperaturereduction means including a plurality of tortuous passages and then to ascrubbing means to an exit flue, whereby the dimensions of the powerburner stage, the temperature reduction means and the scrubbing meansare constrained to provide a constant volumetric flow therethrough andthereby provide a substantially pollution free exit gas into theatmosphere.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of thesubject invention partially cut away to disclose the first burningchamber and the exit port thereof;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 taken alongthe lines 2-2 thereof disclosing the second burning chamger including acylindrical burner tube and a temperature reduction labyrinth;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1taken along the lines 3-3 disclosing the scrubber apparatus followingthe temperature reduction labyrinth;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 takenalong the lines 44 further illustrating the scrubber apparatus shown inFIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of the embodiment shown in FIG. I;

- FIG. 6 is a rear elevational view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;and

FIG. 7 is an electrical block diagram for operating the embodiment shownin FIG. I. I

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawingswherein the same reference numerals refer to the same parts of thevarious views of the invention, reference numeral 10 generallydesignates a substantially cubical housing of refractory material andcan, whendesirable, also include an outer metallic casing, not shown. Inthe forward portion of the upper wall I2 of the housing 10, is located acharging door 14 forming an entrance into a first incinerating orburning chamber 16, of relatively large volume and describing aconfiguration of flat walls intersecting orthogonally. The chamber 16 isoften referred to as a fire box. A grate I8 is located in the lowerportion of the chamber 16 and extends completely across the chamber andis adapted to receive rubbish or waste material for burning, not shown,when placed thereon by means of the door 14. A pull-out drawer 20 islocated at the bottom of the first chamber 16 below the grate 18 for thereception of ashes resulting from the burning of the material placedthereon. The pullout drawer 20 is adapted to be removed from theincinerator chamber 16 through the front wall 22 of the housing 10 byapplying manual force to the handle 24 attached to the drawer 20.

A first oil or gas burner 26 is mounted in the front wall 22 a shortdistance above the grate 18 for providing a means of igniting andincinerating the material placed on the grate 18 for disposal. Theburner 26 is 'fed from a source, not shown, by means of the conduit 28.A forced draft for supporting combustion inside of the housing isprovided by an air blower 28 mounted on the exit or chimney flue 30located at the rear portion of the top wall 12 causing an external airto be pulled into the housing 10 and through the system to be describedby means of the ports 32 located on the pilot burner 26. The portopenings may be fixed or variable depending upon the specificapplication.

In the upper right hand corner of the back wall 34 of the first burningchamber 16 is exit port 36 of substantially rectangular cross sectionwherein all of the smoke and gaseous products of combustion resultingfrom incineration of waste material placed in the burning chamber 16 isdrawn thereto by means of the blower 28. The smoke, etc. drawn to theport 36 passes into a small antechamber 38 which is generallyrectangular in cross section as shown in greaer detail in FIG. 2. Ahollow cylindrical power burner tube 40 comprising a second burningchamber passes through the antechamber 38 in a substantially horizontaldirection behind the wall 34 (FIG. 1). A plurality of intake openings 42are fabricated in tube 40 only in that portion which extends I into theregion described by the antechamber 38. The

plurality of openings 42 comprise substantially rectangular slots andinwardly directed tabs 44. A second gas or oil burner 46 shown in FIG.I, called a power burner, is located on the side wall 47 and is attachedto the power burner tube 40 through a transition member 48. A flame,when generated, is directed through the transition member 48 and intothe power burner tube 40 along its central axis so that the flamesubstantially fills the burner tube 40 for a predetermined adjustablelength. By selectively adjusting the amount of fuel fed to the powerburner 46 by a control 50, for example, the flame through the powerburner tube can be adjusted for any desired amount.

All of the products of combustion in the chamber 16 except the ashfalling into the drawer must pass through the intake openings 42 due tothe suction created by the blower 28 and everything contained therein,e.g. smoke and unburned particles held in suspension is forced into thepower burner flame. By selectively adjusting the flame in the powerburner tube 40 substantially all of these unburned products areincinerated therein.

As noted above, the power burner tube 40 is shown mounted in asubstantially horizontal position in the refraetory material of thehousing 10 behind the back wall 34 of the burning chamber 16.Additionally the tube 40 faces the inner surface of the left side wall52 such as shown in FIG. 2. An output nozzle 54 including a plurality ofradially extending vanes 56 is mounted on the other end of the powerburner tube 40 so as to provide a swirling or vortex motion for theexhaust gases emanating from the power burner tube 40. Both the nozzle54 and the power burner tube 40 are comprised of metallic material suchas stainless steel or cast iron which can easily accommodate the hightemperatures provided by the power burner flame which is adapted toextend even to the output of the nozzle 54.

Th swirling exhaust from the nozzle 54 is fed into a temperaturereduction labyrinth of substantially constant cross section and beingcomprised, inter alia, of a relatively short passageway 58 extending tothe wall 52. A second passageway 60 then extends vertically to thebottom wall 62 of the housing 10. A third passageway 64 extendshorizontally along the bottom wall 62 and enters another verticalpassageway 66 through a port 67 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Passageway 66extends along the inner side of the right side wall 47 behind the burnertube 40. At the top of the passageway 66 a relatively short horizontalpassageway 68 extends to the back wall 70 where an output port 72 islocated as shown in FIG. 3.

The dimensions of the passageways 58 through 68 are maintainedsubstantially constant throughout so that a balanced flow is provided,that is, a constant volumetric flow is maintained. The purpose of thelabyrinth is to provide a temperature reduction means for the extremelyhot exhaust coming from the power burner tube 40. This is provided bydiscrete direction changes for the exhaust gases emanating from thenozzle 54. The present invention therefore is able to provide atemperature change at each intersection of the passageways 58 through68. In other words, four separate temperature reduction stages areprovided by the subject invention as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Following the exit of the exhaust gases substantially reduced intemperature at the exit port 72, they are fed into a gas scrubber stageprior to being directed to the output flue 30. The scrubbing apparatusis located at the rear portion of the housing 10 along the back wall 70thereof. The scrubber comprises three water spray lines 74, 76 and 78including four spray nozzles 79 connected to each line, mounted in theupper portion of the back wall 70 between the interior wall 80 forming aportion of the passageway 68 and an output baffle plate 82 extendingdownwardly adjacent an exit flue 30. Additionally a water bath 84 ismaintained at a predetermined level in a trough 86 beneath the loweredge of the baffle 82 and the port 72 so that the exhaust gases comingfrom the labyrinth at the exit port 72 are forced to pass over thesurface of the water 84 beneath the nozzles 79 attached to the lines 74,76 and 78 and beneath the baffle 82. It should be noted that the waterspray line 74 is positioned next to the wall 80 at a level of the exitport 72 while the other two lines 76 and 78 are located along a commonplane at a relatively higher level. Thus the gases reduced intemperature by the labyrinth are subjected to a cleansing process forremoving any other particles which may have escaped incineration in theburner tube 40 as well as further reducing the temperature of theexhaust gases to an acceptable level. It should also be pointed out thatthe height of the water 84 in the trough 86 is maintained at theaforesaid predetermined level in oreer to again maintain a balanced gasflow through the apparatus and thus matching the air flow in thelabyrinth preceding the scrubbing apparatus so that the volumetric flowis constantly maintained throughout the entire system, i.e. from theport 36 of the first burner chamber 16 to the flue 30.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the scrubbing apparatus disclosed in FIG. 4 isoperated as a closed system by means of the apparatus shown therein.Reference numeral 88 designates a water pump which is adapted to feedthe lines 74, 76 and 78 shown in FIG. 4 by means of the plumbing 90extending thereto through the rear wall 70. The water pump 88 is drivenby means of an electric motor 91 connected thereby by means of amechanical coupling 92. A water feeder tank 94 is coupled into a trough86 by means of the plumbing 96 and 98 for maintaining the water level ofthe water 84 at a constant level as indicated by the level tube 100.

The apparatus thus described is comprised of four main elements: theinitial burning chamber 16, the cylindrical. power burner tube 40including the power burner 46; the temperature reduction labyrinthincluding the rectangular cross-sectional-passages 58, 60, 64, 66 and68; and the scrubbing apparatus including the water bath 84 maintainedat a predetermined level in combination with the water spray lines 74,76 and 78 as well as the vertical output baffle 82.

It should be pointed out that the embodiment of the subject invention asdisclosed is adapted for automatic operation by means of an electricalcontrol of the pilot burner 26, the power burner 46 and the electricmotor 91 driving the water pump 88 and the blower 28. This can beprovided by means of an on-and-ofi' switch 102 controlled by a manuallyset timer 104 controlling the application of 110 volt, single phase ACpower to the apparatus as shown schematically in FIG. 7.

What has been shown and described, therefore, is a new and improvedincinerator type environmental control system which is of a small andcompact nature for residential use as well as commercial applicationswherein the exhaust gases ultimately discharged to the atmosphere aresmokeless, odorless and free of any fly ash.

We claim:

1. An after burner for use in combination with an incinerator having anexit port through which the smoke and gases are exhausted from theincinerator in which the after burner comprises an antechamber adaptedto receive substantially all of the smoke and exhaust gases from theexit port; burner means including a relatively small burner chambercoupled to said antechamber, means for generating a flame within saidburner chamber, said burner chamber being dimensioned to pass throughsaid antechamber, a plurality of intake openings through the burnerchamber walls in the region defined by said antechamber for allowing allof said smoke and exhaust gases present in said antechamber to passtherethrough into said burner chamber, whereby said smoke and exhaustgases are forced into the flame by forced draft, temperature reductionmeans comprised of a plurality of passageways coupled to said burnerchamber for receiving the exhaust from said burner chamber and reducingthe temperature thereof as by a series of directional flow changes, anexit flue communicating with the output of said temperature reductionmeans, and means for maintaining a substantially constant volumetric gasflow from said first burner chamber to said exit flue.

2. An after burner as claimed in claim I wherein the burner chambercomprises an elongated hollow member adapted to channel said flameinteriorally thereof, and wherein said plurality of openingsadditionally include an inwardly directed tab.

3. An after burner as claimed in claim 2 wherein the elongated member isof a tubular configuration.

4. An after burner as claimed in claim 3 wherein said plurality ofopenings are substantially rectangular openings and wherein saidinwardly directed tabs are substantially rectangular.

5. An after burner as claimed in claim 4 where said tubularconfiguration is substantially circular in cross section andadditionally including a nozzle attached to the output end of saidmember for producing a vortex flow of the exhaust gases therefrom.

6. An after burner as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality ofpassageways of said temperature reduction means are of substantiallyrectangular cross section.

7. An after burner as claimed in claim 1 in which the burner chambercomprises a generally horizontally disposed tubular member, and includesa nozzle connected to the end of the tubular member, said nozzle havinga plurality of radially extending vanes for producing a vortex of theexhaust therefrom.

1. An after burner for use in combination with an incinerator having anexit port through which the smoke and gases are exhausted from theincinerator in which the after burner comprises an antechamber adaptedto receive substantially all of the smoke and exhaust gases from theexit port; burner means including a relatively small burner chambercoupled to said antechamber, means for generating a flame within saidburner chamber, said burner chamber being dimensioned to pass throughsaid antechamber, a plurality of intake openings through the burnerchamber walls in the region defined by said antechamber for allowing allof said smoke and exhaust gases present in said antechamber to passtherethrough into said burner chamber, whereby said smoke and exhaustgases are forced into the flame by forced draft, temperature reductionmeans comprised of a plurality of passageways coupled to said burnerchamber for receiving the exhaust from said burner chamber and reducingthe temperature thereof as by a series of directional flow changes, anexit flue communicating with the output of said temperature reductionmeans, and means for maintaining a substantially constant volumetric gasflow from said first burner chamber to said exit flue.
 2. An afterburner as claimed in claim 1 wherein the burner chamber comprises anelongated hollow member adapted to channel said flame interiorallythereof, and wherein said plurality of openings additionally include aninwardly directed tab.
 3. An after burner as claimed in claim 2 whereinthe elongated member is of a tubular configuration.
 4. An after burneras claimed in claim 3 wherein said plurality of openings aresubstantially rectangular openings and wherein said inwardly directedtabs are substantially rectangular.
 5. An after burner as claimed inclaim 4 where said tubular configuration is substantially circular incross section and additionally including a nozzle attached to the outputend of said member for producing a vortex flow of the exhaust gasestherefrom.
 6. An after burner as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidplurality of passageways of said temperature reduction means are ofsubstantially rectangular cross section.
 7. An after burner as claimedin claim 1 in which the burner chamber comprises a generallyhorizontally disposed tubular member, and includes a nozzle connected tothe end of the tubular member, said nozzle having a plurality ofradially extending vanes for producing a vortex of the exhausttherefrom.